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To hide an unsightly fence, or to block out the neighbor’s view of your yard, grow raspberry bushes in fertile, well-drained soil along the fence line. The leafy branches, called canes, will cover everything they are near, while the berries will give you and the local wildlife a tasty treat every year. Choose from the more common red berries or try one of the less-known golden, purple or black varieties.

Varieties

Select raspberries that will grow in your particular climate. These berries need some chill time, and most won’t grow in climates that are too warm, so if you live in a hot, inland area, choose your berries carefully. Many do well in the cool, coastal climates of U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 8 and 9, provided there’s not too much fog to allow them to get the sunshine they need to set fruit and ripen. Cultivars such as “Autumn Bliss,” “Summit” and “Fairview” are ideal for cooler areas, while “Bababerry” and “Oregon 1030” are better choices for hot, dry inland areas. In areas that get a lot of heat and sun, you may need to give your plants shade to get a good crop.

Considerations

Raspberry roots are perennial, but the canes are biennial. Each year new canes grow to full size from the roots, while the canes from the year before are generally the ones that produce fruit, though some varieties produce fruit on the upper portion of the current year’s canes. Once fruiting completes, remove the dead canes at ground level to allow room for the next year’s growth. The biennial nature of the canes means that each year you must train new canes to grow on the fence as you cut away the dead canes.

Training

While some types of raspberries can grow as free-standing clumps, the best way to cover a fence is to tie the canes directly to the fence. Use plant ties or soft string to tie the canes directly to the fence as they grow, supporting them both vertically and horizontally, depending on the cane size and fence height. Each spring and summer tie the new plants to the fence and remove those canes that already bore fruit. Use caution when pruning growing canes, since some types will grow berries on new canes the first fall.

Support

Tie raspberries directly to supports, such as fencing made of wire or chain link. To cover solid wood or cement block fences with berry vines, attach horizontal wires directly to the fence. Screw eyebolts into the wooden posts or drill into concrete blocks with a masonry bit and set anchors into the cement, then screw eye bolts into the anchors. Stretch wires between the eyebolts, and then tie the raspberry canes to the wires to support the plants against the fence.